http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2002/01/22/eline/links/20020122elin035.html
Jan 22, 2002
With the German Parliament scheduled
to vote next week on whether to allow the import of embryonic stem cells,
the outcome of the controversial issue still remains in doubt.
As the vote approaches, many leaders
of Germany's influential churches are raising their voices against imports,
while business people and researchers are warning that prohibiting imports
would hurt Germany scientifically and economically.
A prime example of the sharp divisions
on the issue surfaced over the weekend within the governing coalition headed
by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a member of the SPD party. Schroeder supports
the import of embryonic stem cells in principle, but in a Sunday newspaper
interview his Justice Minister, Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, revealed that she
was opposed on ethical grounds.
Leaders of the major parties in Germany
have said they consider the issue a "vote of conscience," and will allow
party members to vote according to their personal beliefs.
Pia Teufel, a spokeswoman at the
German Research Council (DFG) in Bonn, told Reuters Health that the DFG
supports allowing embryonic stem cell imports.
However, she declined to speculate
on what the outcome will be January 30, when Parliament is expected to
vote on the issue.
"We don't know what will happen,"
she said. "We really don't know."
Currently in Germany, embryonic stem
cell imports are allowed, she said, but then added, "Perhaps it is better
to say it is not forbidden. There is no law."
Germany's National Ethics Council,
which advises the government on life sciences issues, in November voted
14 to 8 to allow embryonic stem cell imports for research under stringent
regulations.
And, if Parliament approves imports,
most believe it would do so only with guidelines similar to those proposed
by the Ethics Council.
The 14 members of the Ethics Council
in favor of imports suggested that stem cells should come from so-called
"surplus embryos" produced by in vitro fertilisation but not needed for
pregnancies, that couples whose embryos are used must have given approval
and must not have been paid money, and that all stem cells imported into
Germany must be registered. They also believe that, because the field is
changing so rapidly, any law regulating imports should be valid for only
3 years and then reconsidered on the basis of new information.
Teufel, of DFG, said that currently
no government-funded research with embryonic stem cells is being done in
Germany. It is not known whether any private companies are conducting such
research, she said. However, she said she believes that none are.
The DFG, which allocates federal
and state money for public research, is a major player in the issue. A
Bonn researcher, Prof. Oliver Bruestle, in the summer of 2000 applied for
a grant of around 100,000 euros for research that would require the import
of embryonic stem cells from an Israeli firm.
Teufel said that when news of the
application became public, high-level government officials asked the DFG
in May 2001 to postpone a decision until Parliament could debate the issue.
Additional postponement requests were made in late summer and in December,
she said.
Since Bruestle applied, other research
teams have applied for grants to conduct research using embryonic stem
cells, she said.
But the DFG will make no more postponements
and will make a decision on Bruestle's funding request on January 31, she
said.
Asked what the DFG would decide if
Parliament approves imports, she declined to answer directly. But she said,
"He is a very good scientist."
Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited
By Ned Stafford
FRANKFURT, (Reuters Health)